Donegal Annual / Bliainiris Thír Chonaill, Vol. 1, No. 4 (1950)

JOURNAL OF THE COUNTY DONEGAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY Ehannon where ltis aunt, Alicia, his mother's sister, was married to Dr. Shiel, of Shiel Hospital fame. He died on 28th August, 1825, and is interred at Creevlea AbibEy. John, who was given the Larkfield lands, was born in 1801 and .became a Justice of the Peace. It is told that on one occasion Lord Leitrim, who was landlord of most of the town of Manorhamilton had, for some reason or other, lockEd the gates of St. Clare's Church in that town, and ta.ken the Key away with him to Donegal. Wl:J.en John heard this he saddled his horse, stuck a pistol in his belt and set out in pursuit. He ·overtook the noble Lord at Glenade and made him deliver up the key, so that Mass was celebrated as usual next morning (a Sunday). He died on lst August, 1874 and was brought to Creevlea. He left two sons, Hugh, who inherited the Greyfield Estate, dying unmarried in 1887, and John Jr., who was born in 1862. The latter was High Sheriff and Deputy Lieutenant of Leitrim, a member of its first County Council and a popular local ma?istrate. He died on 15th A.pril. 1932, and was laid to rest in the family plot at Drumahair. He had one son, also John, born 1894, educated at the Holy Ghost College, Blackrock, and on the Continent. In 1942 the last Ulster King of Arms, who held his appointment under Letters Patent from the King of England, died. There could be r.o successor. The office was therefore recomJtitutcd, renamed the Genealogical Office, laid to the National Library and that distinguished scholar Dr. MacLysaght appointed Chief Herald. One of his first tasks was to sift the pedigrees -of the Iri:3h Chieftains with a view to ascertaining what had survived. From time-to-time the names of those entitled to the title "Chieftain of their Clan"' were published. On 12th SeptemJJer, 1945, the following Official announcement 274. was made:- "O'Domhnaill :Clann Dalaigh-O'Donell of TyrconnellJohn O'Donel, 37, Sea.point Avenue, Monkstown, Dublin." This is the John referred to above. The Young Ireland Book Fair was on at the Mansion House, Dublin, at this time and Dr. MacLysaght had a very interesting pedigree of the O'Donnells prepared in colour and exhibited at it. This pedigree now hangs in the Heraldic Museum, Dublin Castle. O'Domhnaill married Eileen, daughter of Alfred Riedlinger, of Plymouth and I am g!ad to say that they have a son, Aodh,. born 1940, who, if we acept the bardic traditions of the old schools, is the 94th lineal descendant of Mil?sius of Spain that planned the invasion of Ireland 3,600 year_s a.go! Both the Greyfield and Larkfi eld properties have been acfTUired- and divlded by the Land Commission. Eamonn O'Tuath8ill writing in Vol. Hl, part 1, of Eigse, 1941. says :- "The O'Donnells no longer p05sess Lal'kfield. A few years ai!o the propertv was purchased bv the Lrnd Commission and rlivided into farms. The house at Larkfie1d was razed to the ~round, and on its site has been built a house smaller and more suitable to t·he needs of the f::irmer who now occupies this portion of the Larkfield estate." CAST'LiEBAR B1RANCH Once more returning to the 17th century, we find that Con Og, brother of Sir Niall Garbh, was slain at Donegal in 1601. His son, Colonel Manus, fought with Owen Roe O'Neill and might have lived till 1675. Manus's son, Calvagh Ruadh, was a Colonel in the army Of James 11. He is reputed to have been the first O'Donnell to have settled in Mayo. His son, Aodh, married the daughter of Tirlough O'Neill, who had been transplanted from Armagh to Oldcastle, Co. Mayo. Their son, Calvagh Dubh, lived, first at Old-

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